January 30, 1958
Kayla hadn't expected what she'd found upon coming to Genosha. From Moira's stories it had seemed like a blossoming utopia. She'd been through too much to blindly believe that any place was truly safe for her kind. It was only when Moira put Rahne there that Kayla allowed herself to believe.
She wandered around the halls of the building, Rahne by her side. The girl had become a little withdrawn after her mother left. Kayla couldn't blame her. Letters weren't how a parent was supposed to communicate with a child. Rahne was facing the world bravely, but she was still a little girl who had just lost the most important person to her.
"What do you think?"
Kayla pursed her lips and looked over her shoulder. Charles stood there, waiting for a response. She didn't know what to make of him. Moira had assured her that he would make sure that they were accepted. He'd certainly done a good job in settling them in. There was something else to it though, something not caused by philanthropy. Kayla had her suspicions, but Moira wasn't there to confirm them.
He had been generous since they had come. Rahne had tentatively accepted him as a facet into her life, even accepting his sister to a lesser degree. Her acceptance had been given to him much quicker than to Logan. Again, it was something that Kayla couldn't blame her for. Their shadow, while unobtrusive, did seem to tower over them. He intimidated people just by walking into a room.
There was another dimension to it as well. As a feral Rahne saw half the world through smell. She obviously smelt something about Logan that scared her. Kayla could imagine. She'd seen his claws. She wondered how many times blood had soaked those bones. Her hands weren't particularly clean either though, so she was in no place to judge.
Logan was strange to her, and yet somehow intriguing. She couldn't use her powers on him, something that had shocked her. She'd simply tried to get him to let Rahne out for a few minutes after their curfew, but he'd refused. He'd actually looked irritated at her request. The only other person it hadn't worked on was her little sister. After that she'd wondered a bit more about him, trying to figure him out.
He seemed tired in a way, someone who was looking around him with a sense of bewilderment. Kayla had heard he had a brother, but she'd been warned away from trying to meet him. She wondered if that was part of it. He certainly wasn't a social creature, responding to her gestures of outreach with, at best, irritability. At worst there was suspicion.
Sometimes she thought he was watching her in much the same way she was watching him. He stood by Charles, looking around the room with boredom. Kayla shrugged.
"I think it's going to need a lot of work before we can turn it into a school," she said, shaking her head, "A lot."
To his credit some construction had already started. Kayla had seen a playground outside, and she knew that she wasn't the only person on the grounds that day. She'd heard that a few others were inspecting the school. Rahne had eyed the playground too, but not said anything. She would have to see if she could get her on it once they were done.
"I'm aware," Charles said, "But I think it holds potential. Spacious grounds, on-site dormitories, only half an hour from the city, a real possibility."
Kayla rested her hand on the wall.
"What type of students are you thinking of having here?" she asked, "I'm only trained for grade school kids."
"We're expecting a mix really," Charles said, "We're integrating courses into the regular curriculums, but I know there are special cases. Also, we don't have any schools for gifted children, no institutes of higher learning. I hope that we can establish a college here soon, maybe a program that's added on. We don't have many children in Genosha at the moment and most of the ones we do are only a few years older than Rahne."
Rahne wandered away from Kayla's side and looked out a window. Kayla took stock of where she was before responding.
"It's a nice sentiment," she said, "I can see that. I'm not sure how well I'd do with gifted children though."
"I'm sure you'll do fine," Charles said, "But if you feel more comfortable in one of the smaller facilities, then we can arrange that."
She hesitated before shaking her head.
"No," she said, "I'll brush up a bit. It's been a while since I could afford to be a teacher."
"Many of our residents are rediscovering their professions," said Charles, "Or taking on new ones like me."
She smiled and looked at Logan.
"What did you do before all this?" asked Kayla.
He raised an eyebrow at her.
"What I do now."
His voice was almost a growl. From her position by the window Kayla saw Rahne's back stiffen and her eyes widen.
"Okay," Kayla said.
She walked over to Rahne and put a hand on her shoulder. The girl's rigidity faded slowly. It was a nervous habit of hers to do that, as though bracing herself for impact whenever she felt afraid or apprehensive. Kayla had mentioned it once to Moira who had nodded. She'd known about it for a long time, but couldn't pin-point the source without asking. Apparently that was taboo.
"Everything alright?" Kayla said.
Rahne nodded.
"Can I go outside?" she asked, "It looks nice."
She hesitated. There was still a lot of ground to cover.
"I'll take her," Charles said, "If, of course, you don't mind."
Kayla looked over Charles. Rahne seemed alright with the proposition, and she knew that Rahne didn't take to people easily.
"Alright," she said.
Rahne hopped away from the window, walking besides Charles. She watched them leave before she went back to inspecting the lobby.
"Kid doesn't like me much."
Kayla paused and folded her arms. It was the first time Logan had actually tried to initiate a conversation. This particular subject had been on her mind for a while though, and she did have some thoughts on it. Careful not to seem too enthusiastic about talking to him she said, as casually as she could muster;
"I think it's the equivalent of a puppy in the presence of a wolverine."
"What?" he said.
She turned around. He was standing fairly close to her and she cocked her head.
"Rahne's a child with an incredible gift," she said, "I don't know about her early life, but I know it was bad. After that Moira raised her like she was her own. She took care of her, gave her everything a child should have. Young and used to people, but still very shy. So, a puppy. And you…"
He arched his eyebrows.
"I don't think you've been safe in a very long time," Kayla said, "And her instincts are biological."
"You saying she's afraid of me?" asked Logan.
Without waiting for an answer he muttered;
"Told Mags he should've picked Neena for this one."
She shook her head.
"I'm not sure that's it exactly. It's more uncertainty I suppose," Kayla said, "But then again, I'm pretty sure you intimidate everyone you come across."
Almost curiously he placed both his palms against the wall. His arms were on either side of her and she tilted her head back.
"Oh really?" he asked.
She shook her head.
"Believe it or not, I've seen much scarier things than you," said Kayla, amused, "So you can go be the big bad wolf to some other little red riding hood."
Kayla pushed his arm out of the way, finding that there was no resistance. As she walked further down the hall she was acutely aware of his gaze on her back.
Rahne seemed used to playing alone. The playground had some versatility to it though, allowing her to be a single participant. He wondered if she'd had difficulty making friends where she'd grown up. He'd had the same difficulty as a young mutant. No matter what others said it was hard not to see yourself as belonging to a different group.
The only time she seemed to have any trouble was when she got on the swings. She paused for a minute, as though expecting someone to push her. He realized that Moira would have done that in their own neighborhood. Rahne had apparently had the same realization, her hands tightening on the chain links.
The words were out of his mouth before he even thought.
"Do you want me to push you?"
Rahne looked up. Her amber eyes were shining and she bit down on her lip. With a deep breath she nodded once. He pulled the swing back and began to push her back and forth. Rahne seemed disconnected and he wished there was something he could say to make it better. He highly doubted it though.
He remembered his own childhood, always alone. Charles could barely remember his father. He'd been very young when he died. He had a hard time remembering his mother before the event. Vaguely he remembered her as being brighter, happier, more interested in the world around her.
After his father's death he knew that something had changed in her, some of her life had left. That much he remembered. As young as he was he'd felt himself being forgotten. She knew she had a son, certainly, but she had the ability to make him feel invisible even when she was staring straight at him.
At school he felt disconnected and invisible as well. He was smart, unusually so he was told, and that set him in a different class from his peers. There had never been much bullying, not that he could remember. Still, he had felt invisible and unwanted to everyone.
All in all, his powers had picked a poor time to manifest themselves when they did. Suddenly he could hear too many thoughts. Sometimes he would burry himself under his comforter with a pillow over his head, trying to block them out. As he grew up he gained control but he was still on edge.
If he hadn't found Raven then he might have gone mad. She had been his only friend before Erik, the only family that would even look at him. A rapport had grown between them to the point where he never read her mind because he didn't need to. He had enjoyed a few years of her support, believing that things could only get better.
Then his mother had remarried. Charles had instantly disliked his stepfather. Perhaps it had been a warning from his powers, the knowledge that Kurt Marko would be bad for his mother and for him and Raven. He was right on all accounts, although there was little he could do about it in the end.
Kurt was a cruel, sadistic man. Charles couldn't see how he had charmed his mother in the first place, but he had to face the consequences that he had. Raven did too, but he tried to shield her from as much as she could. Despite the fact that Kurt never laid a hand on her, Charles had made sure of it, she knew what was happening and it scared her.
And then there was Cain. He closed his eyes briefly as he thought of him. Charles' stepbrother had been, in many ways, worse than his father. Kurt was cruel to Raven and Charles when he remembered to be. Often times he was too busy to remember that they existed. Cain went out of his way to try to hurt them in his father's absence.
Charles had had some theories on why exactly Cain was the way he was. Certainly he'd been exposed to Kurt for longer than Raven and Charles. That would leave any child scarred. Yet, there was something competitive about the way he used his bullying techniques. It was like he constantly needed to assert his control, his dominance over a situation. Cain wasn't someone who liked being outdone.
Again, he'd tried to protect Raven. She was too young to be exposed to that, but Cain gradually grew worse. He was bigger than Charles was but Charles refrained from using his powers. It was something that only he and Raven knew about and, in some ways, they scared him even more than Cain and Kurt combined.
One day he hadn't been able to stop himself. Cain had gone to hit Raven and he'd been at the other end of the hall. Charles had quickly invaded his mind and stopped him. He hadn't had the control to erase his presence from someone's mind afterwards. From that day on, Cain knew about him, knew what he could do.
It made things worse. Charles had hoped that it would end things permanently, scare him into submission, but it hadn't. Instead it had shown Cain that Charles could do something he never could. Things became gradually worse as Charles struggled to keep his sister safe and avoid confrontations with his stepbrother. He'd had to use his powers more and more to protect himself.
Deep down he knew that that was the reason that he had so much more control than other mutants his age. He'd been using his mutation defensively for years when many had seen no need to. Running away from home with his sister had been dangerous, but at least they'd gotten away from the Markos.
That had been what he had hoped, until Cain had caught up with them five days after thier escape. He still didn't know if it had been Kurt or Cain who had sold them out, but it had been Cain who pursued them. Charles had had bruises for months after their confrontation. He was lucky he didn't break anything. He'd won in the end, but he'd never used his powers that way before. It had been like Emma used her powers, slashing cruelly into the mind.
He pushed Rahne into the air again, watching her. He swallowed Charles had no idea of what her life had been like before Moira had come into it. All he knew was that Rahne had probably had two people in her life; Moira and Kayla. Moira was her mother though, the person she saw as her protector and family. Kayla was a friend.
Charles wondered how alone she felt at the moment. The daughter of the woman he loved was quiet and withdrawn. He wasn't sure how she would react to being introduced to other children. Her only friends were adults, the only people she could trust with her secret. Things were different on Genosha, but she must still feel that separation and loneliness. It wasn't something that could be turned on and off.
"Oh, hello Charles."
He looked up, stopping Rahne's swing in mid-push. Rahne got off quickly, stepping behind him. She peered out with amber eyes at Susanna and Lorna. Lorna returned the curious look, only there was much less hesitance in her gaze.
"I was just checking in to see how things were going," said Susanna, "Who's that you have with you?"
Rahne shrank futher back and Lorna stood on her tiptoes. There was a hopefulness about her, tempered by her mother's hand on her shoulder. An idea began to blossom in his head. Lorna was another lonely child, awash in a sea of adults. He wondered if it would work, if it would even be allowed. Rahne was still the child of a CIA agent, no matter how much they trusted her. Even so he was sure that Susanna would agree. Besides, he was sure that Erik wouldn't want Lorna to be alone.
"This is Rahne MacTaggert," Charles said, stepping to the side so they could see each other, "Rahne, this is Susanna and Lorna Lensherr."
He smiled at Susanna. He knew how unused she was to being called queen and disliked it on public occasions.
"She's new here."
Lorna smiled and Rahne began to look a little less frightened. She stepped forward, as did Lorna. Susanna's eyes fixed on her daughter, a slow smile spreading on her face. Charles could tell that things were off to a good start.